It’s hard to talk about career advancement in a time of pandemic.
We are well aware of other more pressing concerns, like a death of a friend, a loved one in the hospital, city lockdowns, plus the chaos around us – factions, corruption, recession, injustice.
HIGH’S AND LOW’s
Life is a mix of high’s and low’s. My mouth smiles as it celebrates my dear friends’ weddings and birthdays, but it also frowns later in the day, as I hear of more news about the pandemic. We smile, and we mourn – maybe even simultaneously. A twitch in our eyes, a glitch in our mouth, we question, ‘where is our sanity?.’
Ahhh, what a beautiful and fallen life.
WERK IT.
About a third of our life is mostly spent on work. And for us to settle with a mindset that work is a necessary evil, only adds to the misery of life.
So if you’re like me, a millennial – living in a world with a health crisis, in a nation deep in economic crisis, it’s not far-fetched that we would go through a phase of career crisis as well.
MISTAKES.
In my late 20’s, I have experienced a number of different types of work from different industries. And I don’t claim to be a sage like Jack Ma, but I do claim to be one those, he termed as – 20-30 something’s who make mistakes.
While making mistakes add to our experience, learning from them isn’t automatic. One must pause, reflect, go through the notes, and identify where you went wrong, then recalibrate and commit to the path you want to tread upon.
So here, my friend, are three things to mind when facing a career crisis:
1. Mind your Own Business
While pop culture usually use this phrase with a tone of arrogance and aggression, Scripture uses it in a different light:
But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. 1 Thessalonians 4:10b – 12
It is far too easy to compare our lives and envy other people’s success when we’re not minding our own business.
It is far too easy to sulk and stay in the mud of discontentment, when we’re not minding our own business.
It is far too easy to be robbed of joy, when we’re not minding our own business.
Minding our own business means working on what’s before us and taking responsibility over what is entrusted to our sphere of influence.
Premature adults lean towards tendencies of blame-shifting – the company, the boss, the family, and other factors outside of our control. But those refined by the furnace of life, keep a healthy expectation of others, take responsibility, and do the next right thing.
2. Mind your Own mind.
It is not bad to aspire for a better job, to want better pay, to strive for a better lifestyle. Corporate sloth is not a virtue, after all. But the downfall of many is the motive behind each ambition.
I remember reading about work that struck a cord within me. Once there was a time when the Wall Street crashed and brokers facing the recession went bankrupt. When the business failed, they also thought their lives were a mistake. Work was their worth. When it crashed, they also crashed.
But our lives are too precious to be boxed in the value of our pay checks. And we know my friend, that work, though a gift, should never dethrone our Beloved. As Timothy Keller puts it:
“If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.” – Timothy Keller
3. Mind your God.
Lastly, mind your God – it means to remember Him.
In your success, give thanks.
In your failures, yield.
In all your life, live for Him.
One day, our bodies will grow old. Our faces will sag.
Our pockets will be empty. Our work would no longer need us.
Our job, our money, we find out, are temporary fountains.
And God is still God.
So remember him in the future.
And remember Him now.
—
Mind your own business.
Mind your own mind.
Mind your God.
Thinking Millennial 